Before analyzing the two TV-commercials by Nike in detail, it is helpful to give a brief outline of the history of basketball and its relevance in the United States and China.
Basketball was invented by James Naismith, a Canadian sports coach during his time as physical education teacher at YMCA International Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts. For the first game in 1891, Naismith used peach baskets as goals and introduced 13 rules that the eighteen players on the court had to play by.
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| James Naismith |
One indication for that are the high TV-ratings of the 2013 NBA finals on ABC (American Broadcasting Company) with an average of 17,7 million viewers. With 26,3 million viewers, Game 7 of the same series drew the second-most viewers to ever watch an NBA game broadcasted by the network. (Nytimes.com)
While basketball has its origin in the United States of America and has been a major element of sport in the country ever since, China’s history of basketball is not as apparent. Even though basketball was linked to a capitalist and therefore hated Western culture for a long time, the sport was introduced in China as early as 1895. Between 1935, when basketball was voted China’s “national pastime” along with soccer, and the soccer boom in the 1990s, “basketball was clearly the most popular sport (…) in China”, according to Morris (2002, p. 12-13).
From its introduction to the Cultural Revolution until now, basketball underwent quite a change in cultural symbolism. While once embodying “communist sportsmanship” it nowadays represents capitalist Western Hip Hop culture (Morris 2002, p. 13).
Nike has had a significant influence on this image change. Since the opening of
the Chinese market for foreign companies, Nike has been pushing its brand
aggressively. By donating basketball equipment to high schools, organizing
tournaments and sponsoring China’s national basketball league CBA (Chinese
Basketball Association), Nike quickly became recognized in China’s basketball domain
and makes now about 20% of its profits in China. (Bloomberg.com)According to Bloomberg.com however, Nike’s lone position as most popular sports brand in China is being challenged by Adidas and its young and sporty fashion line NEO. By thinning out their inventory and replacing their China executive, among other steps, Nike is trying to regain lost market shares. (Bloomberg.com)
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